LONDON: Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative party lost control of key councils in London, according to partial results from local and regional UK elections on Friday, with a potentially historic change looming in Northern Ireland.

The main UK opposition Labour party of Keir Starmer won in long-term Conservative strongholds in the capital, including Margaret Thatcher’s “favourite” council Wandsworth, and Westminster for the first time since it was created in 1964.

Just over half of votes for councils in England have been counted. Results from the remainder, as well as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are expected throughout the day.

The contest for the devolved assembly in Belfast could see a pro-Irish nationalist party win for the first time, with huge constitutional implications for the four-nation UK.

Predicted victors Sinn Fein — the former political wing of paramilitary group the IRA — are committed to a vote on reunification with the Irish republic to the south, a century after the island was partitioned.

The English results so far are not a landslide for Labour, which is seeking to capitalise on a cost-of-living crisis and Johnson’s own performance, including his unprecedented police fine for attending a lockdown-breaking party at Downing Street. Johnson called the results so far “mixed” and said he took responsibility.

“We had a tough night in some parts of the country but on the other hand in other parts of the country you are still seeing Conservatives going forward,” Johnson told reporters in his constituency on the outskirts of London.

But Starmer, visiting Barnet in northwest London, where Labour seized control of the council from the Tories, hailed what he called “a big turning point”.

“When it comes to London, you can hardly believe those names come off our lips. Wandsworth! They’ve been saying for years ‘You’ll never take Wandsworth from us.’ We’ve just done it! Westminster! It’s an astonishing result,” he told supporters.

The former chief of staff of Conservative ex-premier Theresa May said the results in London were “catastrophic”.

“Wandsworth and Westminster were flagship councils,” Gavin Barwell tweeted. “Losing them should be a wake-up call for the Conservative Party.” The Conservatives are hoping to extend their 12 years in power for another term at the next general election, which is due by 2024.

Published in Dawn,May 7th, 2022